


This Silence is Mine

by tillthestarsevaporate



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: 5+1 Things, F/F, Pining, Tumblr Prompt, dinahsiren - Freeform, sirencanary - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-02-27
Updated: 2019-02-27
Packaged: 2019-11-06 17:34:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17944136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tillthestarsevaporate/pseuds/tillthestarsevaporate
Summary: The five times Laurel or Dinah jokingly ask each other out, and the one time Dinah realises Laurel is serious.Based on an anonymous Tumblr prompt: "The five times Dinah (jokingly) asked Laurel out on a date, and the one time she realised that’s what Laurel wanted."I’ve changed it a bit, though.The title is inspired by the Delain song.





	This Silence is Mine

**The First Time**

 

“More like frenemies,”  Dinah had earlier said in response to Lyla’s question. Laurel had claimed she was only there to maintain appearances, and the oblivious police captain seemed to buy it.

Oliver’s “welcome party” was cut short a few minutes later, and Dinah had had to leave the party and oversee the related police work. It’s needless to say that Laurel’s time with Dinah was also cut short as a result.

It’s much later when Laurel enters the precinct with the intent to check on Dinah under the guise of being the caring District Attorney just making sure everything is all right.

The place is dark except for the lighted office with an exhausted Dinah Drake occupying her uncomfortable chair, holding her coffee and staring at the glass wall.

Laurel goes in, but it’s not until she speaks that she is able to get the captain’s attention.

“Isn’t it a bit late for coffee?” Laurel asks.

Dinah turns with a start and sighs heavily, looking at her watch. “Oh, I didn’t realise the time,” she says. “What are you doing here?”

“You know, just returning the favour and babysitting you.”

Laurel is surprised at Dinah’s lack of a scathing comeback.

“Dinah, are you okay? You should go home.”

“Just exhausted. You’re right. I’ll finish this paperwork tomorrow.”

Why is Dinah so cooperative today? Laurel isn’t complaining, but she won’t pretend she isn’t worried.

“Are you sure you are okay? Do you need a ride home?”

“Like a date?”

“What part of offering you a ride constitutes a date?” Laurel counters, wishing she could admit that she does, in fact, want to ask Dinah out.

_It’s not the time for that, though._

“Do you want a ride or not? I also need my sleep.” Laurel continues.

Dinah laughs. “You’re right. It’s impossible to imagine the two of us on a date. It’s a disaster waiting to happen.”

Laurel glares at Dinah, still waiting for an answer to her offer.

“Oh, right. No, Laurel, go home. I’ll finish my coffee and leave. See you in the morning.”

Laurel doesn’t hesitate before turning and leaving, unable to handle the tension with her _frenemy_.

How could Dinah be so blind?

 

* * *

**The Second Time**

 

Laurel is having lunch at the conference in DC - beef shawarma wrap, extra garlic, no onions - when her phone rings.

“DA Laurel Lance,” reluctantly putting aside her food, she answers, even though the caller ID spells the SCPD captain’s name in capital letters.

“Hello to you, too.” Laurel feels herself smile at hearing the other woman’s voice but immediately wipes it off her face in case someone is watching. “Hello, Dinah,” she huffs. “What can I do for you? As you know, I am not in Star City at the moment so your team’s shenanigans will have to wait until I’m back.”

“Oh please, drop the act,” Dinah replies. “I am just calling to make sure the DA is all right.”

“I am fine.”

“I am also calling to find out if you got any notes? Everyone on the team has been getting threats from an unknown source. I believe we are targeted by a serial killer.”

“Oh,” Laurel whispers, immediately regretting not telling Dinah that the notes did not stop coming even after Brett was sent to prison. She should have warned her friends, friends being a loose term for the tentative relationships she has with the members of Team Arrow.

Laurel hears Dinah’s breaths from the other side of the phone. How stupid would she be if she admitted to Dinah that she would actually be content with just listening to her breathe for the entire phone call?

“Remember Brett Collins? I thought these notes were from him, but they haven’t stopped coming. Apparently, the killer has branched out.”

“I see. Why didn’t you say anything before?” Dinah’s worried voice says.

“I didn’t think it was a big deal.”

“Well, now you know it is.”

“How about we make a deal? When you catch the killer, I’ll buy you a drink,” Laurel says, realising what she said too late. “As an apology,”  she quickly adds, hoping Dinah wouldn’t make much of the offer.

“Yeah, right,” Dinah laughs. “Sure.”

Laurel pulls in a huge gulp of air through her teeth, her heartbeat quickening with anger at how Dinah continues to make a joke out of her every attempt. “I have to go now. My lunch won’t eat itself.”

“Very funny.”

Laurel can almost see Dinah’s sarcastic expression. “Bye, Dinah,” she says and ends the call without waiting for a response.

 

* * *

**The Third Time**

 

Laurel returned to Star City the next day. The moment she landed, she got a call from Dinah that they had successfully caught the _Star City Slayer_ , and Laurel had remembered the promise she’d made to Dinah: drinks when they catch the slayer. But before she could say anything, Dinah was inviting her to a small get-together for the team to celebrate. Dinah had insisted despite Laurel’s attempts to convince her that they wouldn’t want her there.

“Well, I want you there. And they need to accept that you are now a part of this team.”

Who could say no to that? Dinah Drake herself was begging her to come, and so she had complied, a huffed “fine” escaping from her mouth before she could change her mind.

That’s how Laurel ends up knocking on Dinah’s door that night, the noises of conversations audible from behind it.

Dinah answers the door, a beam painting her face the moment she sees Laurel.

“Laurel, you came!”

Laurel rolls her eyes. “I don’t think you gave me a choice.”

“Come in. Make yourself at home. What can I get you?”

Laurel enters the apartment to puzzled faces, silently inquiring about what she is doing there.

Dinah doesn’t even wait for them to speak before silencing them with a look, followed by “It’s my place, and I invited her. You need to stop acting like children.”

A beat later, everyone returns to their talking partners, leaving Dinah and Laurel to entertain each other.

“I told you no one would want me here.”

“My apartment, my guests.”  
“Is that you beating me although I said I would buy you a drink? How chivalrous.”

Dinah raises her eyebrows.

“I promised you drinks when you caught the killer?” Laurel’s explanation is further met by narrow eyes. “On the phone yesterday? As an apology?”

“Ohh.”

Laurel’s hope that Dinah returns her feelings flies out the window. How could she not remember?

“You forgot, I see.”

“In my defence, I was trying to catch a serial killer,” Dinah says, taking a sip from her drink. “Besides, that was a joke, no? You can’t expect me to remember every joke you make, Laurel.”

Hiding the hurt threatening to paint her face red, Laurel plays along. “Are you saying I’m funny?”

Dinah’s answering “maybe” elicits a tightness in Laurel’s chest. It elicits hope that maybe her feelings will eventually be reciprocated.

One day.

 

* * *

**The Fourth Time**

 

Laurel knocks on Dinah’s office door and enters without waiting to be given permission.

“Laurel.”

“Good morning,” she replies with a sheepish smile, approaching the desk and placing a cup of coffee in front of Dinah. “Coffee.”

“Good morning to you, too.”

Laurel doesn’t miss the scepticism with which Dinah extends her hands and brings the cup close to her nose to smell it.

“It’s not poisoned, if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Of course not,” Dinah says but doesn’t abandon her mission to prove Laurel wrong.

“Since when do you bring me coffee?”

“Since I happened to wake up a bit earlier today and realised I had time to come by before going to my office,” Laurel lies. The truth is she woke up early on purpose because she knew Dinah had a late night working on a case. She thought she’d do something nice for her and bring her coffee. “It’s called basic human decency, you know?”

“Hmmm.” Dinah doesn’t sound convinced whatsoever.

“Consider it our first date,” Laurel’s tongue slips and by the time her mind catches up, embarrassment has consumed her. “Coffee date, I mean,” she corrects.

Dinah eyes her suspiciously but changes the subject. Laurel couldn’t be more grateful in that moment.

“How did you even know how I take my coffee, Laurel?”

“Two sugars, no cream.”

“That’s how you take yours.”

“Really.” Not a question. Dinah holds Laurel’s gaze for a few seconds and looks down. The small smile on her face earns a giggle from Laurel.

“I have a lot of work to do, as I’m sure you do, too,” states a flustered Dinah, a tone of finality to her voice.

“I’ll see you later, Captain,” Laurel winks, one more attempt to convey to Dinah how she feels. She doubts it’s going to be the last one, though.

Laurel leaves. Before she loses sight of the glass office, she glances back to see Dinah sipping her coffee, a smile playing tricks on her lips.

 

 

* * *

**The Fifth Time**

 

“Laurel, we need to talk!”

“You don’t say.”

Laurel walks down the corridor towards her office, fully aware of the reason Dinah is here, but choosing to pretend otherwise.

“You know why I’m here.”

_Oh, yes._

“I thought you agreed you would not refuse SCPD protection.”

She did, but what Dinah doesn’t know is that this time Laurel is refusing protection for a valid reason: an excuse to spend more time with Dinah, regardless of the fact that she’s only here to reprimand her.

So she keeps up the facade.

“The danger is over. Diaz is no longer a problem, and the slayer is in custody. Everything is fine. I don’t need the SCPD’s help anymore.”

Dinah groans. “All these are fair points, but there are always dangerous people out there, Laurel.”

“Are you worried about me, Captain?” Laurel smirks.

Even though their heights are close enough, Dinah manages to stare Laurel down with a gaze that makes her feel things she doesn’t want to feel.

 _This has gone on for far too long_.

Laurel breaks their state of limbo, seeing as Dinah isn’t doing that any time soon.

“Fine!” Laurel concedes, feeling Dinah’s demeanour relax. She can’t have that, can she? So she hits the other woman with an unexpected comment. “On one condition.”

“You’re not in a position to make demands.”

Laurel pretends she didn’t hear that. “We go out for coffee. Together.”

Both women are silent for a beat too long, gazes reluctantly connecting and breaking almost as fast as their heartbeats.

“You don’t even know how I take my coffee.”

“Maybe that’d be my chance to find out?”

“Seriously?” Dinah asks.

_Damn it, Dinah. Answer the question!_

Dinah is _pretending_ to not know what’s going on - because surely Laurel has given her enough signs already?

Laurel squeezes her eyes shut, trying to hide the hurt, and conjures her mask once more.

“Relax. I was just messing with you.”

Laurel’s concession and fake laughter promptly calm Dinah.

“If it makes you feel better, I will accept police protection from now on.”

“I hope you keep your word this time.”

Laurel shifts to official mode. “The DA always keeps her word, Captain.”

Dinah silently regards the other woman, before turning and heading out, leaving Laurel to bask in her own stupidity.

How dare she have a crush on someone like Dinah? A police captain unable to see what’s right in front of her.

 _Such a pity_.

 

* * *

**The Final Time**

 

Two days ago, Dinah asked Laurel to help catch a metahuman with similar powers to the silencer. That’s how they end up outside an abandoned warehouse - no surprise there - after they catch said criminal.

The one problem is, Dinah is sitting on the front stairs instead of getting up to leave with the SCPD, who have just left with the silencer wannabe in custody. Laurel’s best guess is that the captain had given them instructions to leave the scene without her.

Curiosity and buried feelings get the better of her. She approaches Dinah and sits next to her.

They sit in silence for a while, an invisible string joining them.

“Go away, Laurel,” Dinah breathes, breaking the silence.

“Not until you tell me what’s wrong. Why didn’t you leave with the SCPD?”

“Like you care.” Dinah sounds weak, defeated, reason still unknown.

“How can you even ask that after all we’ve been through, Dinah?” Laurel protests.

“You’re right. I’m sorry.”

“Is that an apology I hear?”

“I am not in the mood for this right now, Laurel.”

She really, _really_ wants to reach out and show her concern.

“What’s wrong?” Laurel asks forcefully.

“Nothing. I just sprained my ankle and didn’t want to look weak in front of everyone.”

That sounds like progress. Dinah didn’t want to look weak. Except in front of Laurel. Not to mention that she actually admitted that to her.

“Are you sure that’s all?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“If you say-”

“Actually, no. That’s not it.” Dinah interrupts.

Laurel feels her gaze and turns to face her, the string taut to full force now.

“Laurel,” Dinah breathes. “Thank you. For staying behind and checking on me. And not only tonight.”

_I suppose that’s the closest I’m going to get to a confession of feelings._

“Dinah, don’t move.” She’s going to do something she’ll probably regret, but oh well.

Laurel moves closer. She leans in.

“What are you doing?”

“Shh. I said don’t move.”

The moment Laurel glimpses a look of surrender in Dinah’s expression, she closes the distance to her lips.

Two inches apart. One.

Laurel closes her eyes. She lightly grazes Dinah’s lips with her own, feels Dinah’s hitched breath on her face, and is surprised when Dinah is the one who at long last pushes their lips together.

The accompanying blood rush does not surprise Laurel. She’s been dreaming about this touch for so long, and it’s every bit as exhilarating as her unconscious mind had convinced her it would be.

A touch, and another, and another. Hands cup her face and pull, and she welcomes every second of it, every disarming feeling.

Dinah slowly pulls away, her heavy breaths mirroring Laurel’s.

“Wow,” Dinah says, her previously sombre expression now a mixture of shock and felicity.

Laurel smiles and takes the deepest breath she can manage in this blissful state.

“Does that mean you will finally agree to go out on a date with me?”

“You are serious now,” Dinah states matter-of-factly.

“I’ve always been serious. All those times I asked, I wasn’t joking.”

“I’m so sorry I kept belittling your attempts, Laurel,” says Dinah after a moment, slightly tilting her head and meeting Laurel’s eyes.

“Another apology. Looks like it’s my lucky day,” Laurel beams.

Dinah chuckles, and Laurel watches her. She’s seen her laugh before, but this time watching her feels particularly different. This time, Dinah’s laugh triggers a swarm of butterflies in her stomach.

Laurel gets up and extends her hands to Dinah.

“It also looks like you’ll need help getting home.”

Dinah accepts Laurel’s offer - thankfully - and Laurel helps her _friend_ up.

“Thank you.”

“I told you it was my lucky day.”

“I think it’s mine, too,” Dinah says, squeezing Laurel’s shoulder as she leans on it.

Laurel turns to her and smiles freely for once. She finally got what she wants.

She finally secured a date with the one person who knows the true her, the real her.

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



End file.
